Friday, May 2, 2008

Koreans Love Their Coffee

My dear friend Cherry had just been to Korea, and she has this story to share. It's a country after my own heart, I must say, a country that's very much into coffee. (I wonder, though, if Italy were not the same.) Anyway, before you read, may I remind you that you can post your comments or have your own posts in this site. Just email me at mcmorco@gmail.com

Thanks,

Morx

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I’ve never been to a country that’s so into coffee as much as South Korea. If you walk around Seoul, you’d encounter a coffee shop every two minutes. They have the usual global coffee franchises – Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Seattle’s Best Coffee, and Starbucks (Their Starbucks charges twice the price per cup of coffee as here in Manila.) Hot and cold coffee vending machines and coffee stands are everywhere. They also have their own local coffeehouses. One of them is Tom ‘N Tom’s Coffee.



It looks like a Starbucks clone--from the logo to the product line and the interiors-–except that it serves fresh pretzels throughout the day, and the price of their teas are the same as the price of their coffees (around 5,000 Won or 250 Pesos per cup). I had my breakfast at Tom ‘N Tom’s for the 5 days I was there last week because it was only a few steps away from my hotel. Everytime I ordered, they gave me this round device which lights and gives out small beeping sounds when my order was ready. Coffee cloning with a twist.



I also got to see the coffee shop where the Korean drama “Coffee Prince” was shot.



I literally shrieked on the street when I saw this coffee shop. That was my kilig moment of the whole trip.

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